END SHARK CULLING IN AUSTRALIA

SAY NO TO NETS AND DRUM LINES, AND YES TO ALTERNATIVE METHODS SUCH AS THE CLEVER BUOY, TAG/TOW, SHARK SHIELD, MODOM SHARK LEASH, ECO SHARK BARRIERS, AND MORE.

Shark culling is currently practised in QLD, Australia through the use of ‘baited drum lines’ and ‘netting’ as a form of ‘shark management’. There is now a risk it will be implemented in NSW, following a recent attack near Ballina. Shark culling has a number of implications:

Culling does not make you safer: There is no proven correlation between shark culling and the reduction of shark attacks. It has been proven to increase the number of sharks to the area where they are used, therefore putting swimmers in MORE danger.

Extinction: Almost half the world’s shark species live in Australian waters (The Greens, 2016). Sharks are long-lived, slow growing and late to reach maturity. This means that it takes sharks a long time to recover from over-exploitation. 97% of sharks caught since 2001 considered to be at some level of conservation risk (Australian Marine Conservation, 2016).

Threat to other species: Netting and baited drum lines are non-discriminating techniques, which means that other threatened species such as dolphins, turtles and dugongs, are also killed.

Contribution to climate change: Sharks are considered a “keystone species”, meaning they are top predators. This also means that they are very important in maintaining balance in marine ecosystems. If too many sharks are removed from the ecosystem, there will be an over population of prey such as turtles, stingrays and crabs. This prey eat vegetation which stores large amounts of carbon. Over-consumption of carbon-storing vegetation would result in a large release of carbon, having catastrophic contributions to climate change.

Threat to coral reefs: Recent Australian research has linked maintaining healthy shark populations to coral cover and the health of coral reefs. A reduce in sharks would pose an increased threat to Australian coral reefs including the Great Barrier Reef, one of our most significant tourism contributors.

The methods used are inhumane: Drum lines and shark netting are inhumane methods for the killing of sharks, as they result in a slow painful death for animals caught. 100% of hammerheads caught by line fishing will die of stress within an hour of capture.

There are many MORE EFFECTIVE alternatives: Eco Shark Barriers, tag and tow, Clever Buoy, Shark Shield and other methods are proven to be more effective, economical and sustainable.